| Show written tor for this paper TRAVELS LETTER NO wednesday ednes day november 20 1895 ac danied aed by tester jane was kwas a fellow passenger with us from aroa a elder william gardner and I 1 ed her brother samuel lives hives across the river in a little town jal west spit he is the only mem of the church left of a small branch ch elder john P of salt e city raised up in napier and vicin 1880 the branch was organized zed er r 17 1880 1880 with seven members ers muel amuel hansen as president er r our morning visit we took in a buss lor for the napier railway miles distant where we met ter wilford P the presiding BT in the hawkes bay district distract we took a walk through the little city iier r which contains about stants and has quite a romantic on the sea coast the business ot of the town which has somewhat lir liar streets nestles at the foot of a I 1 that rises almost perpendicular from sea to a height of over teet feet he e of the finer residences are built on top and slopes of this remarkable aich is separated from the main by a swampy and low country and round und on which napier stands was aly once a separate island the ile of napier and vicinity are at pres busily ily engaged in building a break tar far r out into the ocean commena bt at the e foot of the hill or bluff just qed millions of dollars have aldy been spent partly to no purpose the tee mighty ocean waves undermine feuge masonry and caused the walls thimble over into the deep water ohe workmen are now blasting huge orom s from the hillside hill side which they are ing ng out on rails and casting into the til fm as an outside protection for the kwater proper which is built of concrete blocks each of which t s about thirty tons at iceo p in elders gardner ml myself boarded the railway train ahad traveled meled twenty five miles through it beautiful and apparently infertile coun r A ty to te hauke a native village situated i to a romantic little valley with a lake in ite center abounding with eels of all ieee here we received the usual hearty welcome from the native saints fas there is quite a branch of the church st this place here we also met elders loomas J obrien and david lindsey aa together with elder form missionary strength from zion in the kes bay district the natives at hawke make lavein live in comfortable lumber joae and th the a elders elden whose head quarters are here occupy a neat little room in one of the largest dwellings the place has also a fine meeting house which is nicely furnished with a stand and seats thursday november 21 this was letter writing day for the elders at te hawke the american mail was to leave in a day or two and we all had something to say by the means of the pen to wives children fathers mothers relatives and friends in the land of the saints or in zion dear zion far oer the sea in the evening we attended and spoke in a native prayer and testimony meeting friday november 22 1 I worked all day with the district record assisted by bv elder thomas J obrien A number of native saints from several of the branches in the district arrived in the evening to attend the conference which had been appointed for the two following days saturday november 23 aft after er prayer and breakfast I 1 took a morning walk alone upon the green grass covered hills lying immediately back of te hawke the view was grand and beautiful the peaceful villa village e t the h e romantic lake the thousands 0 of S sheep e ep grazing upon the hills slopes the waving grain the cosy groves of fruit trees weeping weeping willows and shrubbery and the finely fine graded roads winding through the caf valley all combined to make a picture at once grand and enchanting and ana not soon to be forgotten at io 10 a in m we commenced our first meeting at which I 1 occupied a portion of the time elder hoagland acting as translator for me we held another interesting meeting in the afternoon when elder gardner preached to the people these two meetings were held in the m meeting house in the evening another meeting was held at the large lodging house where most of the visiting natives slept at night sunday november 24 our conference was continued and two interesting meetings were held elder eider gardner andrew jenson and a number ot of the native brethren and sisters spoke two were baptized during the day we also administered to a number of sick persons among the conference visitors was hozepa otene Mei hana of Ta onoke who was the me first maori baptized in this part ot of the country most of the people in his village followed his bis example and for several years the branch over which he presided was one of the best and liveliest maori branches in new zealand but he finally quarreled with the elders from zion which led to his bis excommunication from the church in iii 1892 since which the branch has gone down until it has almost ceased to exist this circumstance serves as a good illustration of what the influence of a maori chief means the maori people are great sticklers klers for the rights of their ranga tiras ls or chiefs whatever an influential chief does is generally endorsed by his people hence it a great chief embraces the gospel numbers of his people will generally follow and on the other hand as in the case of hozepa otene Mei hana it if a chief is severed from the church it often means the dissolution of a whole branch or the turning away of most of the people in his bis village the probability babi lity is that this particular chief will soon return to the church which undoubtedly would mean the resurrection of the branch the hawkes bay latter day saint missionary district includes that part of bf the north island of new zealand which lies adjunct to napier its coast line commences at waikare or on the south line of the mahia district and extends as far south as cape turnagain inland it extends to and includes woodville in the heart of the country the district contains baptized members of the church or souls including children under eight years of age it consists of eight branches of the church namely Ta onoke Koron gata tiko tikokino kokino Ti ino te hawke Ta takapau Tak kapan apau pakipaki Paki paki tamaki and Wai marania the branch comprises the saints residing in the native village ot of that name situated about two milis miles northeast of hastings and ten miles southwest of napier the branch bianch has an interesting histo history ryas as this is the place where the good work was commenced among the maoris laoris in the hawkes bay country hozepa otene was the first one baptized here his baptism took place april adyth 1884 elder alma greenwood one of the first elders who introduced the gospel in its falness to the maoris laoris officiating before the middle of august following over seventy maoris laoris had joined the church in tao noke and neighboring villages on june 1884 two branches of the church were organized in that locality with hozepa otene olene as aa president of one ot of them which was originally known by the name of Pak ohai but was soon changed to Ta onoke the first general conference of the australasian mission in which the maoris laoris took a prominent part was held at in january 1885 the Koron gaia gata branch consists of the saints residing in ah tha native village of that name situated on a small stream about five miles southwest of ha hastings stings and about twelve miles northeast of te hawke the branch was organized june 1884 on the someday same day that the lao DO ke branch came into ex istance ce Koron gata is still one of the best branches in the hawkes bay district and contains at the present time a greater membership than any of the other branches the Ti kokino branch comprises the saints residing in the village of Ti kokino which is situated on the left bank ot the wailana river in a valley near the foot of the mountains about fifteen miles northwest of faipaua Wai paua which is situated on the railway twenty nine miles south west of te hawke tikokino kokino TU Ti cokino is about twenty nine miles by roundabout round about road southwest of te hawke the first baptism at Ti kokino took place september ath 1884 elder edward newby officiating and the branch was organized september aith 1884 the paki paki branch consist of the native saints residing in the native village of that name situated on the rail way five miles southwest of hastings seventeen miles from napier and eight miles northeast of te hawke the me branch was organized july ath 1889 by elders john A sutton and joseph P beck te hawke branch already mentioned was organized march 1886 for several years it ranked as one of the liveliest maori branches in the mission three general conferences of the australasian tra lasian mission has been held here the first one in april 1889 the second in april 1892 and the third in april 1893 the takapau branch embraces the itie saints residing in and near the native village of takapau which is situated on a small stream in an open plain and on the railway thirty two miles southwest of te hawke or fifty seven miles from napier the branch was organized october ath 1888 the tamaki branch embraces the saints residing in the fine village ol of tamaki tahoraiti Taho the name of the railway station which is situated on the railway fifty six miles southwest of te hawke and eighty one miles from napier the branch was organized june ath the waimarama branch comprises the saints residing in a native village of that name situated on the sea coast about twenty miles southeast of hast ings or about thirty two miles by round about road from te hawke the branch was organized january by elder joseph P beck the saints of the hawkes bay district as a rule are well ot of as to this worlds goods many of them are also well educated and live in european style As a rule they appear superior to the average of their race in different ways monday november aith we the elders from zion met with the people ot of te hawke lor for morning prayer and I 1 then said good bye I 1 also sang to them the hawaiian aloha oe 11 which pleased them very much elders gardner and myself then got into a buggy which the good saints sain t s of koron gata gat had furnished tor for our special convenience veni ence and left te hawke at we traveled fifteen miles in a southwesterly direction through the heart of a beautiful tul country to Wai pawa a european town situated on a river of that name iame r which we forded corded and made our way to the M maori aari village p lying on the lowlands on the other oth er side here bere we were kindly kind jy received by brother arapatra arapata and family who live in a comfortable frame fram e house in which we held a meeting in the evening some europeans being present the speaking was done in english elders hoagland obrien and lindsey who had followed us on horseback from te hawke were also present tuesday Novem november ai it rained very heavily last night and as it con tinned to pour down this morning elder gardner and I 1 concluded to travel to tamaki by rail while elders hoagland and faced the storm in the buggy taking leave of elders 0 brien and lindsey at the railway station at Wai pawa we traveled forty three miles to tamaki a native village situated in a clearing of the so called seventy mile bush about two miles southwest ot dannevirke Danne virke a settlement founded principally by scandinavians a number of years ago at tamaki we were made welcome in the elegant home of brother bakana a leading man of the village all the natives in tamaki live in comfortable lumber buildings and the only thing that distinguishes the village from an ordinary european to town wn is the long iron covered maori meeting house in which the general conference of the australasian mission was held in april last A number of natives came in and spent a pleasant evening with us in bakanas Ta kanas house wednesday november at zo 10 a m we commenced a well attended meeting in the large meeting house nearly all the village people attended and elders gardner and andrew jenson were the speakers then after taking leave of the good people of tamaki the two elders named boarded the train and continued their journey at p m A fourteen mile ride brought us to woodville a little european town with about inhabitants situated in a timbered valley between mountains fountai ns and hill thence we followed the river down through the renowned gorge abounding with beautiful scenery on every hand to ashurst height eight miles from woodville another european town where we met elder heber C jex of spanish fork utah who is laboring among the europeans in the district district and also old brother robert menzies who lives in the neighborhood he brought a buggy in w which he took us about a mile to the house bouse of his sonin son in law brother george wilson who with his family are the only members of the church in ashurst As burst we held an interesting little meeting in the evening with the few saints present as none done of the many neighbors whom elder lex jex invited chose to put in an appearance after the meeting we confirmed herbert E wilson the eight year old boy of brother wilson who nad had just been baptized blessed the baby I 1 a recent arrival in the family and administered to sister wilson who was sick ANDREW JENSON PURI PORIRUA RuA new zealand december ath 1895 |
